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The Elizabethan Strangers |
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Suspicions
The Strangers's reputation was not helped by evidence that radical religious books were being smuggled into Norwich from the Low Countries, or by the flow of English Puritans to Rotterdam in the 1630s, where they established a gathered church. Even if the Strangers were not involved in these activities, as religious separatists they were still viewed with suspicion by the authorities.
A pattern for spotted camlet fabric.
© Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, pattern books in Bridewell Museum collection |
The government also feared that immigrant communities were a threat to public order and security by assisting foreign powers to invade. In 1571, the authorities searched Strangers's homes for armour and weaponry, and in the unsettled years before the Civil War, it was feared they might be disloyal to the Crown.
But the relationship between the Norwich Strangers and the English was generally stable. Personal ties were formed through marriage and friendship. Some Englishmen even became godparents and guardians to Stranger children.
Norwich continued to flourish well into the 17th Century, and remained an important provincial centre, thanks mainly to its thriving textile industry, which had been given an extra impetus by the Strangers. And, with time, the immigrants became so well integrated into the local community that they were no longer "strangers".
Certainly there are few obvious reminders of these folk today. The Strangers did, however, bring with them a love of canary-breeding, which soon caught on with locals - it was not long before there was a new breed known as the "Norwich canary". Bizarrely this is their most visible legacy - today the nickname of the local football team is the Canaries!
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